UK railways: Commuters have paid 25% more for season tickets under David Cameron, Labour claims

The highest increase found was on a Virgin Trains season ticket between Birmingham and London Euston which will have risen by £1,984 and now costs more than £10,000 for the first time.Reuters

The cost of rail season tickets has risen by 25% since David Cameron became Prime Minister in 2010, the Labour party has claimed. With fares set for another hike tomorrow, rising by an average of 1.1%, Shadow Transport Secretary Lilian Greenwood said passengers have been hit with a "truly staggering" rise of up to £2,000 in cash terms since 2010.

The analysis compared costs on over 200 routes throughout the UK, looking at how the price of tickets has risen since Cameron's election. The highest increase found was on a Virgin Trains season ticket between Birmingham and London Euston which will have risen by £1,984 and now cost more than £10,000 for the first time.

A season ticket from Swindon to London has increased by £1,640 since 2010 and will now cost £8,280 according to Labour's calculations. Meanwhile the cost of a season ticket from Kingham, in Cameron's Witney constituency, to London Paddington will have increased by 25% to £5,412.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used the latest annual increase to repeat his call for the nationalisation of train services. He claimed it was a "scandal" that commuters' money was being used to boost the profits of private firms and foreign state-owned operators.

"Labour is now committed to a publicly owned railway as the best way to secure a fair deal for rail passengers and taxpayers, and long-term investment for a modern railway system," he said. "It's a scandal that fares are being increased every year to subsidise the profits of private companies and other countries' railway systems," Corbyn added.

Greenwood said in some cases passengers were faced with far bigger increases than 25% for regulated fares. "Fares have risen more than three times faster than wages and passengers on some routes have also been hit by 'stealth fare rises' of up to 162%," she said.

Regulated fares have increased by an average of 7% in real terms – taking inflation into account – between 1995-2015, compared with a 33% rise in unregulated standard class tickets.